Former Leeds United and Republic of Ireland fullback Ian Harte is confident Matt Doherty will prove himself in Spain at Atletico Madrid.
Doherty was one the surprise deadline day deals last month as he joined Atleti just hours after mutually agreeing to terminate his contract at Tottenham.
Harte, while admitting the decision was unexpected, is confident the Irishman has what it takes to thrive in LaLiga.
On behalf of Bookmakers, Harte told Tribalfootball.com: "To be honest I think it's a bit of a strange one because I rate Matt Doherty. I look at what he did when he was at Wolves. The amount of goals and assists that he got. Obviously, he's got to move to Tottenham for whatever reason. Conte hasn't really taken a shine to him.
"Personally, I think he's better than Emerson Royal but obviously I'm not a manager and that's the tough decisions that a manager has to make."
While known for his time at Elland Road, Harte also played in Spain with Levante and is convinced Doherty will prove himself with Atleti.
He continued: "I think Matt Doherty is a cracking player. I think he'll work there, and I think he'll do a good job. Look what Kieran Trippier did when he was out there. I can't see why Matt can't work and do exactly the same.
"Diego Simeone is one of one of the best managers that are out there as well, but he demands each player to give 100% on that pitch.
"It'll be it'll be a great experience for Matt hopefully he does well and who knows what happens off the back of it whether he gets a longer-term deal there or he puts himself back in the shop window in the Premier League."
Indeed, with a contract running only to June, Harte can see the move as a shop window for Doherty.
He added, "Well, I think Matt Doherty is he's an unbelievable player, so of course he would like to have stayed at Tottenham and played week in week out. Obviously new manager comes in has different ideas so I'm sure Matt won't have any problems finding quite a few options come the summertime. Playing under those two won't do his career any harm, let me tell you that."
As for some advice on settling in, Harte warns the heat could be an issue for Doherty.
"Although it might be warm in England, it's never to the same kind of temperatures as it is out in Spain, so yeah it takes it takes a little bit of getting used to running around in that kind of heat and that's why we always trained morning times.
"We never really did afternoon sessions. If we did, it was trying to do a bit of a shape work or whatever so it's walking around. But it was it was fine and after a few weeks you get used to the weather.
"Probably the hottest place I was when I played for Levante was Sevilla which I couldn't believe how warm it was and we were chasing shadows at that game. We got a bit of a lesson."
